Chapter 8, Act II - The Titan's Curse.
It was December 14th, and I was left alone at camp while Annabeth, Thalia, and Percy went off to some boarding school in Rhode Island to get some demigods. I can't say I wasn't bitter. I glared daggers into a mirror I'd enchanted to show me how my friends were doing while they were at that school.
It only got interesting when I saw Thorn there. I guess Thorn went to this school, since the di Angelos weren't in Maine in this timeline. I tensed, watching them. Thorn took the kids they were supposed to retrieve to a back hall.
The elder of the two was a guy, no more than thirteen. The girl, however, was much younger. No older than eight. The view panned back to Percy and his group. He realized the kids were gone, and chased after Thorn.
I was getting deja vu. Percy found the kids, and his shoulder got poisoned by one of Thorn's tail dart things. The guy didn't even resist as he got brought out with the other kids, surprisingly to a cliff. That part of Rhode Island shouldn't have any cliffs like that.
"Where did that come from?" I murmured. I refocused on the mirror, only to find events escalated while I zoned out, thinking about whatever that thought was. Annabeth was on the manticore's back again.
I sighed. The Hunters appeared, and Artemis ordered them to fire. I scowled. An arrow whizzed past Percy, another nearly hitting Grover, a third hitting the kid in the shoulder, the rest hitting the manticore. I snarled. I saw why it was different. The moon goddess was in her adult form, and she flickered, taking the form of a child again.
It wasn't Artemis that fired on them, it was Diana.
The Roman gods were slowly getting on my shit list. Annabeth was launched off the cliff with the manticore, and I watched them as they disappeared. I sighed, and laid down for the night.
My nightmares were plagued by images of the Roman camp, and flashes of a sobbing girl, the same one I saw in that rift that closed as I fell into the void.
I woke up to hearing a loud crash. I ran out to examine what happened, and realized what it was. The sun bus. The literal sun crashed into our lake. I sighed. I went up to meet them. "Apollo," I greeted, "it's been a while." The sun god grinned at me. "Nice to see you, Niko. I see training with Circe did you good." I got a sense of deja vu after that. "Yeah. Feeling better than ever." I lied.
"Good to see you, Thalia, Grover. Who are these kids?" I asked them, gesturing to them.
"Ryatt and Elea Theodore. Unclaimed." I noted their appearance. Ryatt was pale, with brown eyes that glinted with madness, and a mop of black hair that made him look like he just got out of bed. Elea was practically the opposite of him. I almost couldn't believe the two were siblings. Elea had long, blonde hair, with blue eyes, and she was tan. She seemed a lot more put together, which is odd for an eight year old.
"Welcome, you two. Percy, if you could give them a tour?" I asked. He sighed, but went off with the two kids.
Thalia nodded at me, and left, leaving me with Grover, the Hunters, and Apollo. "I'll show the Hunters to their cabin!" Grover exclaimed, excited as ever about the Hunters. "We do not need your help, satyr." A voice spoke up. I saw who spoke, and to my surprise, it was Zoë Nightshade.
Part of me wondered why she wasn't speaking in Old English. I shrugged it off. You've gotta just accept differences in different timelines, I guess. Grover went along anyways, leaving me with the god. "It's been a lil while, Niko." He smiled. His expression quickly turned serious, though.
"Look. I know what's about to happen with my sister. I'm not allowed to interfere, but I want you on the quest to help her. The Hunters would never accept you as a quest leader, but I'll be sure to visit Zoë to let her know. And don't let Zoë die, will you?" He asked, a hand on my shoulder.
"Understood, Lord Apollo." I nodded. "Good luck at Camp Jupiter, after this. Hecate's regarded pretty much the same there as her counterpart. There's a pretty blurry line between the two. Just introduce yourself as a child of Trivia, and you'll be fine. Reyna knows, but won't be saying anything." He informed me.
"Thanks, Lord Apollo. I'll see you later, hopefully at the winter solstice meeting." I turned to leave, and I heard Apollo mutter. "So hard to see..." I turned back to him. "Did you say something, Lord Apollo?" I asked. He smiled sheepishly.
"Nothing important. I'll see ya later, kid." He waved, and he vanished with his sun bus.
That following night, the Capture the Flag game occurred. At this point, it's safe to assume I was banned, but Percy wasn't, and he's far beyond what power level he was at during the normal Titan's Curse arc. He was able to summon small hurricanes, create small quakes, and even create and manipulate ice and steam, disregarding his already obvious phenomenal control over water.
Still, though, he's been training that hard in powers only. Zoë still barely crossed the creek before him. I was still incredibly proud of Percy, honestly. He nearly managed to beat the Hunters, while Zoë was their lieutenant, who trained for at least a thousand years, no less.
Of course, Percy still went against Thalia's plan as team captain. So Thalia started throwing a hissy fit, and electrocuted Percy. Percy, however, wasn't having any of it, and froze over where he walked on the creek, slowly approaching Thalia as water rose behind him from the creek, in a swirling ball.
"Percy, that's enough!" Chiron called out. Percy didn't stop, and he was closing in on the sparking daughter of Zeus. I blasted the water with my strongest flames, and the water turned to steam, though it exhausted me of my MP. "Percy." I called. As soon as I said it, hairs stood up on the back of my neck.
Percy felt it, too, because the steam morphed back to water, dropping back in the creek. He turned to face whatever it was.
The Oracle walked out into the clearing, same as before, which gave me the creeps. "I am the Spirit of Delphi, speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python." Something tugged at the back of mind. Something familiar.
I shrugged it off. The Oracle turned unmistakably to Zoë. "Approach, seeker, and ask." She hissed. Zoë stepped up, swallowing any nervousness. I'm actually not sure she knew our Oracle was mummified. "What must I do to help my goddess?" She asked.
Six shall go west to the goddess in chains,
One shall be lost in the land without rain,
The torch of Olympus shows the trail,
Campers and Hunters combined prevail,
The Titan's curse must one withstand,
And one shall perish by a parent's hand.
I swallowed. I knew why it didn't change much.
I got a sinking feeling that the one lost in the land without rain wasn't going to be Bianca, which I had prepared a loophole for.
We were promptly called to a meeting in the Big House. Usually, even with the honoring of the minor gods, we only allowed kids of the Olympians to attend these meetings. The only reason I was allowed here was because Chiron insisted that I should be allowed. There were still protests, but the most unlikely person to speak up for me did.
"Let the boy in the meeting. He is to be a part of this quest, on Lord Apollo's orders." She demanded. They let me in, thankfully, and there was Cheez-Whiz, crackers, and...red wine? Dionysus was reminded of his restrictions as Percy, Grover, and Thalia came down from returning the Oracle.
Dionysus turned it to cans of Diet Coke. I shrugged, and took one. Nobody else took it. I sipped at mine as the meeting went on.
"Artemis must be present at the solstice. She has been one of the most vocal on the council arguing for action against Kronos' minions. If she is absent, the gods will decide nothing. We will lose yet another year of war preparations." Zoë said, grabbing my attention. I didn't like Artemis too much after she shot Ryatt. I did, however, see Elea with her. Elea seemed to have joined the Hunters.
"Are you suggesting that the gods have trouble acting together, young lady?" Dionysus asked. "Yes, Lord Dionysus." Zoë said without remorse. He nodded. "Just checking. You're right, of course. Carry on." I quietly snickered. The meeting carried on, and I zoned out until they started discussing who would go.
"Three and three." Percy said. "We're supposed to have six, right? Three Hunters, three campers. That's more than fair." There were nods. "Well, we're supposed to be following something, right? The torch of Olympus shows the trail. What does that mean?" Silena asked.
I raised my hand. "I believe I'm the torch. I know where we have to go, and my mother's symbol is a torch. So that's me on the quest, alongside Zoë and I would assume Thalia." I answered. There were mutters of agreement. The counselors, thankfully, didn't hold as much of a grudge against me after a month. Turns out Percy was right about that.
"And as for the monster we are supposed to find, I have no idea what it is. Lady Artemis did not share such with me." Zoë frowned, flipping a ping-pong paddle in her hand. I blinked. Why were they still talking about a monster? Oh. Right. Artemis was still hunting for the supposed monster, and I guess Zoë thought it's relevant, since it's how she got captured.
I stayed quiet, though. I knew what it was, and I would tell them later. Percy can't know now, or he wouldn't save the Ophiotaurus later.
Everybody looked at Dionysus. He was flipping through a wine magazine, and glanced up at the silence. "Well, don't look at me. I'm a young god, remember? I don't keep track of all those ancient monsters and dusty titans. They make for terrible party conversation." I shrugged. He did have a point. He only really worried about his own domains.
I tuned out the rest of the meeting, just playing around with my powers in my hands. Just balls of light, water, ice, even a ball of steam. "So be it." Chiron said. "Thalia, Grover, and Niko will go with Zoë, Elea, and Phoebe westward, to find Artemis." Everyone rose from their chairs to leave, except for the quest members.
"The five of you, meet me at Half-Blood Hill tomorrow morning at five." Zoë said, rising from her chair, swiftly exiting the room. Grover and I stayed behind as everyone else left. "You know what the monster is, don't you?" He asked, nibbling on a ping pong ball.
I sighed. "It's the Ophiotaurus. I had studied it in the monster encyclopedia I got, back when I first got to camp. But we can't do anything about it yet. Not until we get to San Francisco." I felt my fingers brush over my key to the Underworld. I could cut this quest short. It would save time, it would save whoever gets lost in Arizona, but there's too much to gain from going the route we already knew.
The Nemean lion pelt, the encounter with Athena and Rachel, Grover's encounter with Pan in New Mexico, and most importantly, the dam jokes. The Nemean lion pelt could save Zoë. It also stops Percy from following us so easily if we went through the Underworld. I knew we had to go by normal means, unfortunately.
I heard the conch horn for dinner. We got up, and Grover went off to the Poseidon cabin. I went to dinner.
There was someone I didn't expect at the Hecate table. "Lou! You're back!" I smiled. Lou gave me a halfhearted smile. "Yeah..." She trailed off. "Where'd you go?" I asked. "After dinner, at Zeus' Fist."
That's when I knew things were about to get screwed up majorly.
